On June 8, members and friends of the Hollister United Methodist
Church held a farewell celebration, an old-fashioned American
barbecue for their associate pastor. Tevita Vaikona, who served the
local church for the past two years, was preparing to leave for a
new ministry.
On June 8, members and friends of the Hollister United Methodist Church held a farewell celebration, an old-fashioned American barbecue for their associate pastor. Tevita Vaikona, who served the local church for the past two years, was preparing to leave for a new ministry.
Vaikona will begin a pastorate at the Red Bluff United Methodist Church on July 1. The UMC clergy deployment system features local pastors being assigned to parishes by higher church authorities (district superintendents and Bishops).
Vaikona has recently returned from his first visit to Red Bluff where he met leaders of his new congregation. He was impressed by the appearance of the church building, the roominess of the parsonage he will live in and the friendliness of local residents.
Vaikona is a native of Tonga, a kingdom which stretches over 170 volcanic and coral islands in the South Pacific; only 36 of them are inhabited.
As much as 40 percent of the population is Wesleyan (members of churches founded by John and Charles Wesley in England in the 18th century).
The young pastor grew up on Uiha, an island with only 700 residents. He moved to a neighboring island to attend a Methodist high school. As graduation neared, he considered a career as an accountant, but his father influenced him to consider serving God.
As Vaikona attended Fiji Bible College on a scholarship, he became convinced that God was calling him through his parents to enter the ministry. He graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in Bible, but “didn’t feel ready to minister yet” because he felt he “needed more knowledge.”
Through the financial assistance of his brothers, he pursued this additional knowledge through attending Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. While visiting a church during a vacation to the Tongan community in Seaside (near Monterey), Vaikona met Ofa, who soon became his wife. They married in Hawaii, where they both have family.
Vaikona then transferred to the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, part of the Graduate Theological Union, and graduated with a M.A. Div. in 2003. Part of his study included a year’s internship at Monterey United Methodist Church, and after graduation he continued to serve that congregation in several roles.
He mentions the difficulty of serving a congregation which is in constant flux because of U.S. Navy reassignments.
In 2006, he was called to the associate pastor position in Hollister. He says he has learned a great deal during the past two years about how to minister in an “American” culture: the differences in food, sense of humor, ways of greeting, means of celebrating the important dates in the Christian year. The use of music is particularly different: “In Tonga, everybody considers themselves part of the choir.”
Having spent so much time during the past few years as a Tongan in the midst of caucasians, the pastor feels one of his most important themes is acceptance. “God will help us accept differences,” he says. “We’ll find harmony by respecting one another.”
Vaikona will miss the relationships he has developed with parishioners in Hollister.
“People were warm and welcoming, accepting where I was coming from.” He is grateful for all he learned from them, “particularly word pronunciations.”
The Rev. Ardyss A. Golden, senior pastor of the church, will miss her associate: “Tevika is a kind and gentle listener; he will be able to handle any situation which may develop. It’s been wonderful to have him at our church, but this assignment will be a great opportunity to experience more aspects of ministry.”
